Pride and Prejudice: Pre-read chat

[Gem , Moderator]

Hi everyone,

We're going to begin reading Pride and Prejudice on November 2 for six weeks. I've never read this book, so I'm excited to participate. Who will be joining us?

[Ian]

I plan to. For those approaching the book for the first time who are unfamiliar with Georgian and Regency England, I would recommend the current Penguin Classics edition, which has excellent explanatory notes. Skip the 1972 introduction by Tony Tanner until you have finished the story, as Penguin now advises. An excellent essay, but with as many spoilers as insights. The nicest thing is that the Kindle edition is currently $5.63, less than half the cost of either the (Fourth) Norton Critical Edition, or the Oxford Worlds classics edition, both also annotated with what I think are useful comments and definitions.

[Ian]

It occurs to me now that if you don’t recognize the terms Georgian and Regency you probably especially need that help even more than those better acquainted with English history. (Or have at least read some Georgette Heyer.)

[Janet]

I’m in! I’m a new member and just finished Mansfield Park as part of a continuing ed course. Excited to read another Austen.

[Gem , Moderator]

Ian wrote: "I plan to. For those approaching the book for the first time who are unfamiliar with Georgian and Regency England, I would recommend the current Penguin Classics edition, which has excellent explan..."

Thanks for that information Ian. I'll be reading this for the first time and will keep what you've said in mind.

[Gem , Moderator]

Janet wrote: "I’m in! I’m a new member and just finished Mansfield Park as part of a continuing ed course. Excited to read another Austen."

Hi Janet, welcome. I hope you enjoy this read. I'm excited about it too.

[Robin P, Moderator]

For any classics edition, it's wise to read the Introduction/Preface last unless you already know the story in detail, or of course if it's clear that it is background material on history, author, etc. without spoilers.

I plan to join this discussion. I envy those of you who are reading it for the first time! I have read it at least 4 times over the years, plus seen multiple movies and even a stage play once. Apparently there has been more than one musical, but I've never seen any of them, I'll have to check them out. It seems like this story could lend itself to one. Then there are all the modern adaptations including Bridget Jones' Diary.

[Ian]

There are a great many books on Jane Austen in her time, and how it relates to her novels. Including studies of food and dress (more useful for Georgette Heyer in some cases. A general survey by topic, A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England, by Sue Wilkes, is “free” on Kindle Unlimited at the moment. If you subscribe to KU and have an empty slot, you might try it. It is part of a series of Visitor’s Guides to various periods.

[Gem , Moderator]

Robin P wrote: "Then there are all the modern adaptations including Bridget Jones' Diary."

I had no idea this was based on Pride and Prejudice. So much to learn, so little time.

[Ian]

My sister pointed out to me that the paperback Penguin Classic is about the same price as the Kindle version (give or take tax, not counting postage if any), and there should be plenty of time for it to be delivered. (Especially if you have “free delivery” with Amazon Prime.)

[Abigail]

I'll certainly join in--and I may even reread it, though I basically know it by heart at this point. I envy those coming to the book for the first time! For me that happened at age 13, so I can't remember how it was—except that I wound up reading all six novels five times before I could be persuaded to read anything else.

[Gem , Moderator]

Abigail wrote: "For me that happened at age 13, so I can't remember how it was—except that I wound up reading all six novels five times before I could be persuaded to read anything else."

That was me with Agatha Christie. I think she is responsible for my love of reading.

[Ian]

On a more careful reading, the Oxford Worlds Classics edition does not seem to be available on Kindle any longer. However, it is just $1.99 on Apple Books (2019 edition with expanded notes).

[Frances, Moderator]

Abigail wrote: "I'll certainly join in--and I may even reread it, though I basically know it by heart at this point. I envy those coming to the book for the first time! For me that happened at age 13, so I can't r..."

You make it sound like our generation's version of Harry Potter! I remember having to suggest to my daughter on her 5th go-round of HP that perhaps she'd like to try something else for a change-and I suggested P&P but I don't think it grabbed her the same way.

[Frances, Moderator]

Gem wrote: That was me with Agatha Christie. I think she is responsible for my love of reading.

I think Christie was my adolescent binge read as well!

[Ian]

I probably read P&P in High School — I used to have an “enhanced” paperback with pictures of period objects, enlivened, if memory serves, by stills from the 1940 film (Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier). But I know I read it, with the rest of the novels, in the 1970s Penguin editions, when I took off a year before graduate school to catch up with my TBR list. I think they took two weeks, interspersed with other books. It may also have been motivated by friends who urged Georgette Heyer on me, with comparisons to Austen. But there was a whole lot more of Heyer to binge on…

[Robin P, Moderator]

After reading a lot of Dickens when I was around 12, I tried P & P, but got bogged down in the endless letter from Mr. Collins toward the beginning. I still remember clearly being in my bedroom frustrated by it. Then we read it in high school and I appreciated it more. But it was only when I was in grad school and I loved Emma that I went back and read all of Austen.

There weren't so many movies of the story back then. There was one from 1940 with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, where for some reason they dressed the ladies in Victorian style, with big hoop skirts, as if the dresses were left over from Gone with the Wind or some other film. But even that one I only saw later.

[Ian]

The studio had just done a film set in post-Napoleonic-period England, and the costume department apparently pitched economical re-use of what they had. It also saved the problem of deciding exactly when P&P is set. The script was emended to refer to the battle of Waterloo as an event in the past, sort of cluing in the audience that it was set after Persuasion; which is of course impossible.

[Robin P, Moderator]

That's funny, I was just joking in my suggestion about reusing costumes. I actually thought someone found those costumes more glamorous than the real Regency ones.

[Ian]

They may have. Some late Georgian and Regency costumes would look rather odd in the 1930s, and what they used certainly flattered Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. But money is supposed to have played a considerable role, according to critical discussions of the production.

There is a question of whether the novel is still set in the 1790s, like the “First Impressions” draft, or was revised on this point by Austen to the 1810s, with considerable consequences for the Bennet’s finances, fashions, the significance of militia maneuvers, and other things, which I may describe in the main discussion as they arise.